City-owned CPS said it suspended training following the accident, noting in a written statement that the “outcome of an investigation into the incident is pending.”

“My understanding was that he was recovering, and I guess it was somewhat of a surprise to us that there was a setback,” CPS spokeswoman Lisa Lewis said. Castro, she said, had a clean safety record at the utility.

Castro is survived by his wife, two children and his grandchildren, the utility announced.

“Losing a CPS Energy family member is painful,” CEO Doyle Beneby said in a written statement. “I had the honor of meeting Hector and his wife earlier this year, when we celebrated his 30-year anniversary with CPS Energy.

“I'm deeply saddened to go from celebrating his service to our community to honoring his memory. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family now.”

Castro was taking part in a safety drill when he fell three weeks ago. He was practicing how to rescue a fellow lineman if one is injured while working atop one of the utility's thousands of power poles, Lewis said.

His team was practicing on a 45-foot-tall power pole when the accident occurred.

Castro's fall is the second major safety incident the utility has disclosed in recent weeks. Two CPS employees received minor injuries in a September explosion at the utility's J.T. Deely coal power plant, which is on Calaveras Lake.

An investigation by the utility determined the explosion was caused by a buildup of coal dust in a part of the assembly that delivers coal from a giant storage pool to the plant, where it's burned to create electricity.

The plant returned to operation earlier this month.

Lewis said that over the past three years, the number of safety incidents at CPS have declined by 30 percent.